The Twenty-Ninth Day: Surviving a Grizzly Attack in the Canadian Tundra

I read this in a day! Poetic in parts and I love a good survival story.But.. Why such a risky journey in such a remote area with so little backup? These kids were too young.Why was Dan so stingy with antibiotics,and pain pills? My son was put on antibiotics first thing after a stray cat bite before infection could set in. Dan said he was saving them. Well, heck! Surely a bear attack qualified for medication.Did they boil the lake water before irrigating the wound?Even clean looking water can have microorganisms.There were too many questions, some already addressed in previous posts regarding why he was attacked in the first place.. Still, a good read.

This book was fascinating to me. All these things I will never do. The only thing that bothers me is the way Dan was so stringy about the pin killers and antibiotics. Why were the women referred to as femmes? I love survival books and this one is now a favorite.

Surprisingly well-written account of an adventure that took a major turn to become a health crisis following a bear attack. Beautifully described rugged wilderness and the camaraderie of young men and their guide facing challenging conditions.

The story took us on a trek.we went on the trek every step and paddle on the way. The author did finish his challenge just as if he. had completed the trip as planned and so too the reader . We paddled, hiked,met the bear and were bitten just as surely as if we had been there.no-one who reads this book will be the same as when he started.

Great story for those that enjoyed reading Hatchet when younger, or those that really enjoy white-water rafting. A bit boring until you get to “the 29th day.” Girls who like to raft might be put out by the way the “boys” consider them as “lesbians.”

I really found myself captivated by this book! It is extremely well written -- so much so that I had to keep reminding myself that this was written by a young man of seventeen, still in high school. He writes better than many adults -- and has the emotional maturity of someone years older. I am many years older than Alex but I don't know if I could have even convinced myself to go on such a trip -- much less be able to handle myself so well when face to face with an angry bear in a harsh wilderness environment! The story of these young men navigating many miles of northern wilderness, by canoe and facing stormy weather, wild animals, food shortage, a lost canoe and more is inspiring and captivating. This would also make an excellent movie.

Beautiful story of the connection and value a young person has to nature. Story of resiliency,perseverance, optimism and character building in nature.

A uniquely personal journey for the author, who experienced the trip of a lifetime combined with the nightmare of a lifetime at the age of 17. Great recapturing of the minute details down to the colors. A truly interesting story that had me checking my legs after the attack while imagining the terror during and wondering what I would do under the same circumstances.

This is told in forensic detail by a young adventurer travelling the wild reaches of Canada on a guided adventure. His ordeal from a bear attack reveals just how much damage a non lethal attack can do. The reality of infection from animal bites is also made clear. All in all it was a sustaining narrative of a young man's encounter with the wild, a rare thing as the world's wilderness has become more mysterious. A worthy book to read.

Colourful explanations of the nature encountered - made it real. Such calm given the circumstances for a young man - now truly a real man.

I have a personal rule that is "before a book is allowed to be placed go into one of my bookcases, which contain about 500 non-fiction / outdoors related books, that it must be read, in it's entirety, before it is added to my collection." Very seldom have I broken this personal rule, despite some of those books being very tough to get through.That said, this book stands as one of those rare books, that I was just unable to finish.... Tried for weeks and weeks, but finally gave up somewhere in the last 100 pages. Full disclosure, it didn't help this books position, being that I had just read another book entitled "Mauled", without being able to put it down, the day previous.Bottom line, the book is nicely bound but that's where it ends. This is a story of a rather inexperienced, and overly self confident 'city kid', who gets bitten, one time, on the thigh, following a very brief encounter with a young bear, before the bear runs off in terror. To be appreciated, this overly dramatic story could have, and should have, been limited to a two or three page article in Outside Magazine or similar outlining the interesting details of "a rather uneventful bear contact incident, during a group canoe trip". For those of us who live in the northern outdoors and encounter wildlife on a regular basis, you will fall asleep trying to read this book. I mean, seriously kid.... Glad you weren't overly hurt, and you were able to continue on with your canoe trip, but quit the whimpering and walk it off dude..... Yes, that's right. He was able to carry on in the canoes, because the extent of the injury didn't actually warrant a medevac / rescue. For those of us who work in the remote medevac/ helicopter work, you know how many rescues we do nowadays, for non-urgent injuries. This one, didn't even qualify for that, at the time of the incident. They only flew in with a JetRanger (and no medic) 6 days later, when the author became concerned about infection, coincidently, about the same time he was getting tired of paddling and his buddies were likely getting tired of listening to the "whoa is me" on their trip as well.As mentioned, it is very possible that my expectations for this book were just set too high off the get-go, having just read the book "Mauled", which was written by a fellow who had half his face, his nose and his scalp torn OFF and one eye torn OUT by a sow grizzly, then WALKED nearly 10 miles out of the mountains on his own over the next day. Now that's a story to write a book about."Honest Book Reviews" at your service.

I had heard the author on the Meateater pod cast and became interested in the book, it doesn’t disappoint. Amazing what he was able to survive

4.5 stars rounded upWritten in amazing detail, The Twenty-Ninth Day takes the reader on a breath taking journey through the Canadian tundra.Alex Messenger paints a picture of rugged terrain, ice cold water, and pulse quickening rapids. He describes in detail his vivid dreams and how they foretold the life changing event that would completely change the course of his trip and his life.Not for the faint of heart, Messenger leaves no stone unturned as he writes about the fateful day he takes a solo hike and encounters the grizzly bear that almost killed him, the extent of his injuries, his companions’ invasive, limb saving medical intervention to help him and the infection that changes everything.I was surprised that he was actually taken to my hometown Winnipeg for emergency medical treatment. It’s not often we are mentioned in any way in books and even rarer in a positive way.Loaded with pictures, and deeply illustrated writing, this book was quite the adventure. There were some slower portions of the book that disrupted the flow of the story but other than that, this book was captivating.